The Shame Epidemic: How One Emotion Blocks 40% of People From Changing Their Health

Something shifts when someone finally names what they've been carrying—a diagnosis, a pattern, a story about who they are that's been reinforced so many times they forgot it was a choice. The conversation opens there, not with solutions, but with recognition. With the work of actually seeing what's been invisible. Brittni Doty works with high performers at Stark Health, people who've built entire lives on their ability to execute, to win, to know the answer. But the moment they step into health, that competence fractures. The identity they've spent decades constructing doesn't transfer. On this episode of Health Is a Skill, she reveals how a small change in self-talk—adding a palm of protein to each meal, reframing failure as experiment—can shift what feels impossible. You'll learn how the stories we tell ourselves about our bodies become the limits we enforce, and what it takes to see them clearly enough to change. Todd Vande Hei brings his own deep experience with identity to this conversation—the seizures, the firing, the depression, the work of letting go of who he'd been. Together they explore why the smartest, most successful people often believe most firmly in the limits they've set for themselves, and what it actually takes to help someone discover they can become whoever they want to be. Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health